Here is her story....
Surviving Cancer….
At
present, I am a 35 year old single mother of two and a 13 year breast
cancer survivor. I have an amazing 17 year old son and a magnificent 10
year old daughter. I reside on the north side of Chicago.
The
news came to me 13 years ago this October. I felt a lump and went to
the doctor. I was then scheduled for an ultrasound and immediately had a
mammogram to follow because of the findings. The Radiologist, along
with my gynecologist (via a phone conference), broke the news to me, “it
looks like cancer”. I was crushed! I was 22 years old with a 4 year
old son at home and just a year into my career as an x-ray
technologist. I walked out of the room, got dressed, and went home. I
was stunned into silence from the news. When I got home, I cried and
cried.
The
next morning I woke up and moved right into action. Scheduling
doctor’s appointments, further tests, and my first surgery (a
lumpectomy) was on my “to do” list. I went into auto pilot to just get a
resolution to my problem. All my appointments were done and my surgery
was performed on November 24th 2000. I woke in a dazed state
from surgery and my surgeon broke the news, “Tracy it’s malignant”.
When you first hear the news of cancer, it sounds like a death
sentence. I again went home and cried. I allowed the tears to flow for
that day and the next, but then that was the end of it. I am not
allowing this bump in the road to bring me down! I am not allowing
cancer to beat me and so I didn’t.
The
next nine months of my life was a whirlwind of action. I began the
roller coaster ride with an axillary node dissection surgery to see if
the cancer had spread into my lymph nodes. Thankfully it hadn’t. I had
my full diagnosis and prognosis at that point. I was in stage I breast
cancer with a 2cm lump and an aggressive tumor of 3, which meant it was
rapid in its growth and spread quickly. I am so thankful my cancer was
caught when it was. I had three more surgeries that year, with six
rounds of Chemotherapy a sixteen week time frame, and six weeks of
Radiation therapy to follow.
I
decided in July of 2001 while I was finishing up my treatments for
Radiation to have genetic testing performed. I was so young when I got
my diagnosis, even though cancer doesn’t discriminate by any means of
the word, I wondered if possibly there was another explanation. As it
turned out, I did have BRCA II, an inherited genetic mutation that was
hidden within the men of my father’s side. Another worry then had come
to me and an even scarier thought; the chance for reoccurrence almost
triples. It was devastating news. I decided to have a bilateral
mastectomy with tram flap reconstruction. However, my surgery needed to
be put on hold. I became pregnant in May of 2002; a real miracle
considering all that my body had been through the year before. I
delivered in February of 2003 and allowed my body a year of healing
before going through with the mastectomies.
In
June of 2004, at 25, I had the 10 hour surgery of removing my breast
tissue and reconstructing my body with my own tissues, the mastectomy
and reconstruction. There was another nine weeks of recovering ahead
for me. I wanted the surgery though, to survive, to be there for my
children, to be there for my family and friends, I wanted to live my
life!
My
survival story isn’t what I just told you, that was just the background
to it. The real story lies within my day to day life. It is within my
children’s eyes and their laughter, it is within my mother’s and
father’s compassion and unconditional ways, it is within my brothers and
sister-in-laws protecting arms and helping hands, it is within my
family and extended families love and wisdom, it’s within my friend’s
care and support. Without all of those pieces to this puzzle my
survival wouldn’t exist. Together as a whole they help me to survive,
help me to be the best me, help me want to push forward every day to
live my life! So, yeah I am a cancer survivor, yet more importantly I’ve
learned to love life and believe in living life to the fullest!
Tracy then
As you know my Mother had a double masectomy on 11/5/13, almost a year ago. This month my Aunt Sandy is a 5 year breast cancer survivor. My Grandmother Marie passed from breast cancer 2 years ago. This October to celebrate breast cancer survivor's I wanted to give away a free photoshoot to a survivor.
I enjoyed all of the stories and photos that were sent our way.
Kate Johnson will be beautifying Tracy for this shoot next month.... we can't wait to share some of Tracy's images, we are so excited to be working with her!
